Is Rhythm Menagerie for Private Lessons or Groups?

I’ve been asked this question a few times since the launch of Rhythm Menagerie, so I thought I’d let you know that Rhythm Menagerie was designed to be used in private lessons, though it does work well in groups.  Some of the pictures on the video you’ve watched show several groups using the “Fun with Sounds” pages quite effectively, but that is just an example of how flexible we tried to make the curriculum.

Rhythm Menagerie has 8 units and there are 10 pages in each unit.  It’s designed so that you can give the student a new rhythm page/activity every week for 10 weeks, yielding a student who really knows their rhythm!  The single line rhythm pages (of which there are 3 levels) are designed to simply clap and count out loud, but I often tell my students to get creative with them.  The other day, one of my 6 year old students played a little tune on the black key using the rhythms on his Rhythm Menagerie page. Then he placed one hand as far as he could reach on the right side of the keyboard and the other hand as far as he could reach on the left side of the keyboard, then alternated hands playing the measures.

I have an 8 and 6 year old girl doing partner lessons and I told them that I would let them play my resonator bars (from Kindermusik) when they performed their 2-handed rhythm drills the next week.  The idea is to be flexible!  Your students will think of even more exciting ways to practice than you or I!

So, I apologize if you got the impression from the video that Rhythm Menagerie is for groups!  It can certainly be used that way, but it is most effective in the private lesson, giving new rhythms and activities to strengthen your student’s rhythm skills each week.

Visit the Rhythm Menagerie page and the Rhythm Menagerie Tips page for samples of this series.  Or buy it now with one click to the checkout: